Bases for use in the manufacture of greases



Patented Oct. 11, 1932 UNITED STATES ALEXANDER HORWITZ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BASES FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE GBEASES No Drawing.

This inventionrelates to a base for use in manufacturing or producing greases for lubricating purposes and particularl greases of this character employed for lu ricating motor vehicles, machinery and apparatus of various kinds and classes and the objects of the invention is to provide a base of the class specified which may be used in conjunction with various kinds, grades or classes of mineral oils in such proportions as to produce the desired tests and body consistency in the resulting product or products to adapt the same for the many lubricating uses; a further object being to provide a base of the class specified by means of the use of which manufacturers, producers or refiners of mineral oils ma be enabled to produce their own lubricating greases in a-very simple, effective and economical manner; and with these and other. objects in view, the invention consists in a base of the class and for the purpose specified, produced and utilized in the man- 'ner hereinafter more fully described and claimed. For the purpose of illustrating one form of my improved base and one method of its production in the manufacture of fifty pounds thereof, the following proportions of the several ingredients are employed: Thirty ('30)- pounds of aluminum stearate Ten (10) pounds of Japan wax Ten (10) pounds of bean castor oil The above ingredients or pro ortionate in order to simplify the description, it being understood that slight variations of the amount of the respective ingredients may be made in producing a base or bases,='or made more suitable for specific uses thereof, and in fact, I preferably employ in a general or more or less universal base, the proportion of three parts of aluminum stearate, one and two-tenth parts of the Japan wax and one and two-tenth parts of the bean castor oil,

In preparing the base, I first place the proportionate' amounts of the waxand-castor oil in a vat and melt them at a temperature of approximately one hundred and eighty degrees, Fahrenheit, and the ingredients are amounts thereof are given in the ta le named Application filed October 30, 1928. Serial No. 316,114.

agitated during this operation to insure perfect compounding or mixture thereof. When thoroughly mixed and in liquid form and while maintained at the temperature above named, the aluminum stearate is introduced into the liquid in small quantities while the same is being agitated, and this continues until all of the aluminum stearate has been added, and the resultin product resembles a paste-like substance. hen it is assured that all of the ingredients have been combined, the resulting product is left to cool and harden. The next step consists in breaking, up, grinding or pulverizing the resulting product to produce a powder-like or granular prodnot to facilitate its more ready adaptation and combination with the various mineral oils in producin lubricating greases of various kinds and c asses. From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the powdered or granular base may have slightly varying characteristics especially with regard to the amount of the wax and castor oil ingredients employed in proportion to a predetermined amount of the aluminum stearate. In the operation ofproducing the several lubricating greases, the following procedure is followed. The referred method is to first placea portion 0 a mineral oil in a vat and add thereto a predetermined amount of the base which is introduced into the oil while the same is being agitated, after which the remainder of the mineral oil required in producing a predetermined" amount of the grease in question is added to the first product, while the agitation continues. All of these operations are performed without the introduction of heat, and this continues until a thorough mixture of the several ingredients is 9 insured. 0

While the agitation of the mass continues, heat is introduced to a sufficient degree, to insure the melting of the base and its combination or compounding with the mineral oil, the temperature being approximately one hundred and eighty to two hundred and twenty de rees Fahrenheit. During the above edure, the mass first thickens by virtue of the combination of the base with the oil under heat, after which the mass will become thoroughly combined body, the product has been produced, after which the same may be placed in suitable containers for shipment. During the foregoing process, it will be noted that bubbles will rise to the surface of the mass, and it is a good practice to allow .the product to stand under the lowered heating temperature until these bubblessubstantially disappear from the surface. a

In the production of my improved base, While I preferably employ a metallic soap such as aluminum stearate, and a wax such as Japan wax and bean castor oil, preferably of the highest grade, it will be understood that my invention is not necessarily limited to the specific elements herein defined, and other elements than those named or having :properties, of the same characteristics to produce a base having the properties and characteristics of the base I have herein defined, may be employed without departing from the scope of my invention as defined in the ap' pended claims.

In this connection, I have found that almost any one of the commonly known wax elements may be employed, and while all waxes will not produce the most desirable results from a standpoint of clearness and consistency of the product, these factors do not materially affect the lubricating properties of the resulting grades. In this con nection, I also wish to point out that inthe preparation of the base, it is not absolutely essential to employ the castor oil as this is introduced primarily for the purpose of maintaining the highlubricating properties of the resulting grease.

A base may be prepared by simply using the metallic soap and the wax and in the preparation of a base of this character, I preferably employ about equal parts of the soap and wax; but in the use of such-a base, the grease will not have asgood-lubricating properties or characteristics as the first named base, nor will it have the same viscosity as when castor oil is used, but a grease'of this type may have many uses. 1

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the castor oil is introduced and employed in conjunction with the wax in order to maintain a high viscosity test, the Wax being employed to maintain and produce the to that of castor oil may be employed in producing the base.

Having fullydescribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A base of the class described consisting ofv aluminum stearate, Japan wax. and bean castor oil. g

2. A base of the class described consisting of approximately fifty per cent of aluminum stearate and approximately fifty per cent of a wax and oil.

3. A base of the class describedconsisting of approximately fifty per cent of aluminum stearate and approximately fifty per cent of Japan wax and castor oil.

4. A powdered or granular base of the class described for use in the production of lubricating greases, said base being composed of aluminum stearate, Wax and castor oil.

5. A powdered or granular base of the class described for use in the production of lubricating greases, said base being composed of aluminum stearate, Japan wax and bean castor oil, and a mineral oil combined with said powdered base in the production of said lubricating grease.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname this 29th day of October 1928. V

' ALEXANDER. HORWI-TZ. 

